Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Join Agents Books and Braun on their final adventure with the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences!

There is no time to rest for Eliza D Braun and Wellington Thornhill Books. The man who has haunted and hounded them since the fall of the Maestro, Doctor Henry Jekyll, is now on a killing spree, using bizarre, theatrical murders as a way to taunt their inability to capture the. It falls on Books and Braun to turn the tables on Jekyll and bring him to justice.

As Wellington and Eliza continue their pursuit of the madman Jekyll, the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences stand against a recent surge in House of Usher activity. Agents Bruce Campbell and Brandon Hill discover more about the intention of Operation: Ragnorok, and the Ministry find themselves in a race to thwart Usher’s intent to plunge the world into chaos, despair, and a noticeable lack of clotted cream for Devon Teas.

New Zealand born fantasy writer and podcaster Philippa (Pip) Ballantine is the author of the Books of the Order and the Shifted World series.

She is also the co-author with her husband Tee Morris of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels as well as Social Media for Writers. Her awards include an Airship, a Parsec, the Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice, the RT Reviewer’s Choice Award for steampunk, and a Sir Julius Vogel. She currently resides in Manassas, Virginia with her husband, daughter, and a furry clowder of cats.

Tee Morris has been writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and non-fiction for over a decade. His first novel, MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana, became the first novel to be podcast in its entirety, ushering in a new age for authors — podcasting. In 2011, Tee penned with his wife Pip Ballantine the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. The series and its short fiction podcast, Tales from the Archives, has won several awards including the 2014 Parsec Award for Best Science Fiction Anthology Podcast, the 2011 Airship Award for Best Steampunk Literature, and RT Reviews’ Choice Awards for Best Steampunk of 2014. In 2016, Tee and Pip released the fifth book in the series, The Ghost Rebellion; the first book in a new spin-off series, The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh; and the unexpected novella of erotic ridiculousness and hidden messages from Ministry command, Countless Hues of Crimson.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, Tee and Pip released with Writer’s Digest the go-to, how-to book, Social Media for Writers. In 2017, he reunites with Chuck Tomasi for the third edition of Podcasting for Dummies and brings his steampunk adventures to a close with Operation: Endgame. Tee and Pip also host The Shared Desk, a podcast covering collaboration and other aspects of a writer’s lifestyle.

Summer love is summer love, no matter the planet. Climb aboard your
spacecraft or time machine and travel across time and space with these
thirteen tales of love on beaches in the future and among the stars.

Cara McKinnon – “The Pirates and the Pacifist”Kai doesn’t believe in violence. Sam and Dek believe the ends justify the
means. Will passion be enough to bridge the gap between the pacifist sent to
broker galactic peace and the space pirates hired to keep him away at all
costs?

Mary Rogers – “Breakfast on Pluto”Doing the right thing isn’t always what’s best—but sometimes it pays
off. A chance meeting of two people unaware of their destiny with each
other results in a bond too difficult to break, but even duty has its
boundaries. Will love help them break free—and will love be enough?

Under a full moon in the big city, sinfully sexy urban wolves face all too human conflicts with courage and heart. Both novellas capture the danger, romantic thrills, and excitement of the red-hot shifter genre, including finding a soulmate and everlasting love. If you’re a fan of werewolf romance, you won’t want to miss this limited edition anthology.

Elle Hathaway has spent most of her young life in fear of herself. At least the part of her that grows fangs and claws. With the help of a lycanthrope suppressant, she’s made it through puberty, university, even her first job without so much as a shift. Then one night, deep in the tunnels of the Underground, her life changes forever.

Detective Inspector Abelseth Durant is investigating the lethal mauling of an unknown victim in the Covent Garden tube station, and Ms. Elle Hathaway is a person of interest. Sensing her wolf nature, he is mystified by the lovely young woman, and when Elle is abducted by a rival pack, Abelseth realizes he is being pulled back into London’s wolfen underworld.

Shaken out of blissful denial, Elle teams up with the handsome inspector to evade the renegade pack. But as her situation grows dire, Abelseth knows the only way he can truly protect the strong-willed beauty is to convince her to shift and claim her as his mate. There’s just one little problem with his plan—the reluctant Ms. Hathaway.

ExcerptWolf,
Interrupted by Jillian Stone:

Detective
Inspector Durant was a hottie and he knew it. What remained in his favor, she
supposed, was that he didn’t seem to pay much attention to his looks, hence the
unkemptness, nor did he appear overly impressed with himself.

He sat quietly
in front of her, consulting his smartphone.

“Looks like New
Scotland Yard has gone paperless. Rather high tech of them, wouldn’t you say?”

“I thought we
might start with your police report. You can confirm, make corrections,
elaborate—whatever comes to mind.” He glanced up at her. “If you need
clarification, feel free to ask me anything.”

Elle immediately
thought of two good questions: Have a girlfriend? Looking for one?

Tagline: Fur meets fang on the streets of L.A.

Wolf in the City by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

Deep in the heart of L.A., in an area that cops and gangs fear, lone wolf Jared James stands guard, hoping to keep others from suffering a similar fate to the one he has endured. He is on a mission to find the monster that made him what he is. Meeting Kit, a feisty vampire with a mission of her own, will either help or hinder his chances to accomplish that goal . . . but could possibly bridge the divide between two species, and make the long nights much more interesting.

About the Authors

Jillian Stone is a national award-winning, multi-published author who has written four Gentlemen of Scotland Yard novels published by Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, as well as the Phaeton Black, Paranormal Detective series published by Brava, Kensington. Currently, she is writing Contemporary Romance, including Wolf, Interrupted, a novella in the anthology release Urban Wolf.

Linda Thomas-Sundstrom is the author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels and novellas, both dark and light, for HarperCollins/Harlequin Nocturne and GothicScapes, with more than 30 stories that trespass into the supernatural realm.

Linda is the author of contemporary, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy books for Kensington, Amazon Montlake, GothicScapes, Harlequin Nocturne, and Harlequin Desire. She currently has 30 stories that trespass into the supernatural realm, with ton of ideas for more.

Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester owns a brass mine in Zanzibar, a Lapsang Souchong tea plantation in China, a rubber farm in Malaysia, trunk loads of corsetry, and the country’s largest collection of antique whips.

Larger than life, and itching to find new and inventive ways to punish her submissive gentlemen, the Edwardian dominatrix has a vision. Embracing the spirit of the age of aviation, she embarks on a series of adventures on her airship, ‘The Corseted Domme’, with her transvestite maid, Victoria, her airship pilot, Captain Wyndham, and her automaton sex-doll, Borghild.

A select group of submissive gentlemen, consisting of a duke, bishop, lawyer and banker, is invited to join Lady Sally so she can try out her dastardly, electric and steam-powered devices on them. She spanks, whips, and punishes her way across the Empires of Europe, dropping off to visit her aristocratic relatives and friends for afternoon tea.

But Lady Sally’s journey is not uneventful. War is threatening to break out and the Ministry of Aviation want to commandeer her airship for the war effort. And when ‘The Corseted Domme’ has a crash landing, Lady Sally realises there is a stowaway on board intent on sabotaging her airship.

‘Mistress of the Air’ is a genre-crossing comic, Steampunk, erotic adventure as Lady Sally delivers a BDSM kick up the back-side to the Edwardian country house novel.

Lady Sally was back at Rudston Hall, ‘entertaining’ one of her
submissive gentlemen, who was secured onto a whipping bench in one of the rooms
dedicated to domination and punishment.

Indeed, most of the rooms of the house were put aside for that purpose,
rendering it a playground for the expression of Lady Sally’s dominatrix
persona. Except the kitchen. Cook had stood firmly to her ground, insisting
none of her mistress’s strange goings-on take place in her domain. “It’s
disgusting, milady,” she said. “Quite unhygienic. I can’t have those bodily
fluids around where I’m mixing cakes!”

Lady Sally circled the whipping bench menacingly, the brigadier
following the sound of her heels clicking on the parquet flooring until they
came to rest in front of him. The scarlet silk of her corset brushed against
the hairs of his handlebar moustache. The firm, white flesh between the straps
of her black suspender-belt were before his eyes, allowing him to stare down at
her elegant legs in their black stockings. The smell of her, musky and sensual,
was intoxicating. As he glanced up from his restrained position, he noted the
wooden paddle cradled in her silk-gloved hand.

“I’m sorry, mistress. I’m disappointed myself. I should have loved to
join your adventure, but I’ve been called back to my regiment.”

Brigadier Trumpington was left helplessly exposed. The regimental
uniform of the Rutshire Hussars was left draped over a velvet chair, and he was
now naked, kneeling on the bench, his ankles and wrists shackled to its wooden
frame with handcuffs, his arse sticking up invitingly into the air.

It was too tempting a target for Lady Sally to ignore. She lifted her
arm and whacked the paddle against the brigadier’s backside. There was a thud,
then a yelp of pain. His flabby arse wobbled like the jellies cook created with
the hundreds of brass moulds in her kitchen.

She fixed her gaze on him, peering through a black mask which
highlighted her penetrating eyes lined by dark kohl.

“It’s your loss brigadier. This will be an adventure like no other; I’m
so looking forward to it. I shall be a Mistress
of the Air, floating in the clouds whilst administering cruel punishments
to a select group of helpless slaves. And I have all manner of new dastardly
devices to experiment with. There will be clockwork and steam-powered
implements of torment. My workshop has been working over-time to get them
ready. And you will forgo all the excitement...”

“I’m so disappointed, mistress. I know what a privilege it is to be
invited, and I should love to be joining you.”

“Well, it’s a poor show, brigadier, that’s all I have to say. I am of
the opinion you should prioritise service to your mistress over these military
shenanigans. What have you to say to that?”

“I’m truly sorry, mistress, but if I don’t return to the regiment this
weekend, I’ll be court-martialled.”

“It would be a small price to pay for displeasing me. You would just
have to tell them you simply had to serve your mistress, and she insisted on
taking you on an adventure.” Lady Sally hesitated, a subtle smile spreading
across her lips, “But tell me, brigadier, if you were subject to a
court-martial, what punishment would it impose?”

The brigadier was disconcerted by Lady Sally’s smile–it was a bad omen.
From bitter experience, it usually meant she was having a fiendish idea. A trap
was being laid for him.

“Well, mistress, if it were deemed to constitute desertion, then it
would be a treasonable offence, and the punishment would be execution by
hanging.”

“But taking into consideration the mitigating circumstances of having a
mistress to submit to, what punishment then?”

“I don’t know. I doubt such a case has come before the military
tribunal, mistress.”

“You think not?”

The paddle came crashing down on the brigadier’s arse again. He howled
in pain. He hadn’t prepared himself for the heavy stroke. The tingling pain
spread across his backside like spiky tentacles.

“Yet, I know how many of the officer class indulge themselves of
chastisement from a strict mistress. Come now, you are raised on corporal
punishment–a strict governess, public school, Sandringham, the barracks. You
cannot resist a good caning… and if it’s from a sexy mistress, skilled in the
arts of sadistic punishment, like yours truly, then all the better.”

“Yes, mistress. Of course, mistress. It’s true, who could not resist the
magnificent Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester.”

“I know what sentence a court-martial would pass. They would give a full
judicial punishment, would they not?”

The brigadier gulped, “Yes, mistress.”

“So there, the dilemma of how I should deal with your disobedience is
resolved. For failing to join my airship adventure, the punishment is a
judicial flogging and caning,” Lady Sally announced triumphantly.

About the Author:

S. Nano is an author of erotic stories with dark and exotic content in fantasy, paranormal or historical settings, often drawing on the themes of female supremacy, BDSM and fetish but with a seam of quirky humour running through them as well.

His first full-length erotic novel, ‘Adventures in Fetishland’, a BDSM/fetish re-invention of Alice in Wonderland, was published by Xcite Books. His short stories and novellas have been published by Xcite Books, House of Erotica, Forbidden Fiction, Coming Together and Greenwoman Publishing.

His second novel, ‘Mistress Of The Air’, a comic, Steampunk, erotic adventure will be published by eXcessica on 21st April 2017.

Monday, June 5, 2017

From the author of THE HALLOWED ONES and NINE OF STARS comes a new novel blending the magical and the real…

“This is war,” the dragon said. And she believed him.

Di fled rural West Virginia to study music and pursue a bright future as a violinist. But when a mining accident nearly kills her father, she is summoned back home to support her family. Old ghosts and an old flame emerge from the past. When Di gets a job as a bookkeeper at the same mine where her father worked, she is drawn into a conflict pitting neighbor against neighbor as the mine plans an expansion to an untouched mountain.

If the mining company’s operation goes forward, there will be more at stake than livelihoods or the pollution of the land: Di has discovered a dragon lives deep within Sawtooth Mountain, and he is not happy with this encroachment upon his lair. When catastrophe strikes, Di must choose between her family’s best interests and protecting the dragon – the last surviving bit of magic in Di’s shrinking world.

In every fight, sides are chosen. And there can be no yearning for what has been left behind.

Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology-Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs. Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.

Under a full moon in the big city, sinfully sexy urban wolves face all too human conflicts with courage and heart. Both novellas capture the danger, romantic thrills, and excitement of the red-hot shifter genre, including finding a soulmate and everlasting love. If you’re a fan of werewolf romance, you won’t want to miss this limited edition anthology.

Deep in the heart of L.A., in an area that cops and gangs fear, lone wolf Jared James stands guard, hoping to keep others from suffering a similar fate to the one he has endured. He is on a mission to find the monster that made him what he is. Meeting Kit, a feisty vampire with a mission of her own, will either help or hinder his chances to accomplish that goal . . . but could possibly bridge the divide between two species, and make the long nights much more interesting.

WOLF IN THE CITY: Excerpt

Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

The watcher he had detected early on
appeared on the stone ledge above him, offering Jared another surprise. The
female entity was human-like in shape, and almost could have passed for human.
But wasn’t.

She was tall, her silhouette
extremely narrow. And she had been flexible enough to swing herself up to that
ledge. Dressed in body-hugging clothes dark enough to blend with the night,
Jared’s unwelcome visitor gave off no viable scent for him to plug into his
mental databanks.

Definitely
not human. But what?

What kind of anomaly had no scent or
heat signature?

What other type of being appeared to
be human, but wasn’t?

The night, Jared decided, had just
gotten a whole hell of a lot more interesting.

With the shadows at her back and a
hood covering her hair, the female’s face wasn’t visible. The part about
failing to notice how close she had actually been to his position on the corner
gave Jared a twinge of dissatisfaction. This watcher could have had the upper hand
if she’d wanted to, for the five seconds it would have taken before the
brutality of Jared’s full strength kicked in… and if she had been three feet
taller, a hell of a lot broader, and also carried a machine gun.

Though she was drenched in shadows,
Jared saw her raise one hand. The object she displayed glittered wickedly in a
slender shaft of moonlight, garnering Jared’s full attention. Across her palm
lay one of the knives he had taken from the pair of ruffians he’d left
humiliated in the alley. The same damn weapon they had waved at him.

Jared shoved a hand into his pocket.

Both knives were missing.

Growls of anger bubbled up inside
him.

Tagline: Never try to deny the she-wolf inside.

Wolf, Interrupted by Jillian Stone

Elle Hathaway has spent most of her young life in fear of herself. At least the part of her that grows fangs and claws. With the help of a lycanthrope suppressant, she’s made it through puberty, university, even her first job without so much as a shift. Then one night, deep in the tunnels of the Underground, her life changes forever.

Detective Inspector Abelseth Durant is investigating the lethal mauling of an unknown victim in the Covent Garden tube station, and Ms. Elle Hathaway is a person of interest. Sensing her wolf nature, he is mystified by the lovely young woman, and when Elle is abducted by a rival pack, Abelseth realizes he is being pulled back into London’s wolfen underworld.

Shaken out of blissful denial, Elle teams up with the handsome inspector to evade the renegade pack. But as her situation grows dire, Abelseth knows the only way he can truly protect the strong-willed beauty is to convince her to shift and claim her as his mate. There’s just one little problem with his plan—the reluctant Ms. Hathaway.

ExcerptWolf, Interrupted by Jillian Stone:

Detective Inspector Durant was a hottie and he knew it. What remained in his favor, she supposed, was that he didn’t seem to pay much attention to his looks, hence the unkemptness, nor did he appear overly impressed with himself.

He sat quietly in front of her, consulting his smartphone.

“Looks like New Scotland Yard has gone paperless. Rather high tech of them, wouldn’t you say?”

“I thought we might start with your police report. You can confirm, make corrections, elaborate—whatever comes to mind.” He glanced up at her. “If you need clarification, feel free to ask me anything.”

Elle immediately thought of two good questions: Have a girlfriend? Looking for one?

About the Authors

Linda Thomas-Sundstrom is the author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels and novellas, both dark and light, for HarperCollins/Harlequin Nocturne and GothicScapes, with more than 30 stories that trespass into the supernatural realm.

Linda is the author of contemporary, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy books for Kensington, Amazon Montlake, GothicScapes, Harlequin Nocturne, and Harlequin Desire. She currently has 30 stories that trespass into the supernatural realm, with ton of ideas for more.

Jillian Stone is a national award-winning, multi-published author who has written four Gentlemen of Scotland Yard novels published by Pocket Books, Simon and Schuster, as well as the Phaeton Black, Paranormal Detective series published by Brava, Kensington. Currently, she is writing Contemporary Romance, including Wolf, Interrupted, a novella in the anthology release Urban Wolf.